What is Regulation E in Pokémon VGC?
- What are regulations?
- Which Pokémon are allowed in Regulation E?
- How long will Regulation E last?
We have officially entered the 2024 season and although the format has been the same as the one featured in Japan’s first-ever Worlds things are about to change with the introduction of the soon-to-be-released DLC and a brand new Regulation.
What are Regulations?
Regulations are rule sets that explicitly dictate which Pokémon are allowed in competitive play. Although the term has changed over the years the practice of regulations has existed for a while. In Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, we have witnessed over four rule sets, each adding different Pokémons to the mix.
Regulations exist to make sure competitive play does not get stale for periods long enough that could eventually hurt the competition’s appeal while also being a necessary tool for The Pokémon Company to deal with power creep.
Even before regulations existed the Pokémon community had already been accustomed to the existence of rule sets, on Pokémon Showdown, the biggest battle simulator for competitive Pokémon, you can find different categories to play in ranging from “Little Cup”, a mode introduced in Pokémon Stadium 2 where players are limited to compete with newly-hatched baby Pokémon, to “Uber” which allows the most overpowered creatures in the game’s existence to be played.
Which Pokémon are allowed in Regulation E?
On September 1st Regulation E was announced as the fifth regulation in the current game’s existence and will aim to introduce Pokémon debuting in The Teal Mask, the first half of the two-part major DLC releasing on the same month.
Although we have yet to see the official list of Pokémon allowed in this Regulation we already know that this format will permit “Pokémon that were added in The Teal Mask” with a caveat of certain mons which will be banned - this will most likely target Legendary, Restricted and possibly SubLegendary Pokémon.
Fans and competitors have already begun speculating about how the meta will shape Regulation E. While some are excited for what is to come others believe the necessary changes for this format to be significantly different from the previous one have not been made:
How long will Regulation E last?
Regulation E will start on October 1st and end on November 30th, 2023. This means that one of the first official major Pokémon competitions to feature this format will be LAIC.
